Study Finds iPods Can Boost English Language Learners’ Achievement August 29, 2012

Providing English language learners (ELLs) with iPod touches, or other similar handheld devices, can support their learning and improve academic outcomes, according to a study from The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education.

Dr. Min Liu, a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, looked at ways that teachers and ELL students in elementary, middle and high school are using iPod touches to improve teaching and learning. Qualitative and quantitative data gathered during the 2010-12 school years revealed that students enjoyed educational benefits from the device’s mobility, flexibility, connectivity and multimedia capabilities. ,

College of Education graduate students Cesar Navarrete, Erin Maradiegue and Jennifer Wivagg assisted Liu in this study.

“The majority of ELL students in Texas are Spanish-speaking and many are from economically disadvantaged families,” said Liu. “Mobile devices like iPod touches offer them an academic advantage in that they have 24/7 access to learning resources on the Internet – this can help them do their homework anywhere and anytime. Our research shows that these students’ learning opportunities are extended well beyond the classroom and there’s even an indication of ‘sociocultural capital’ benefit. That just means that these students have a device that helps them feel more like their English-speaking peers and it isn’t something that sets them apart in a negative way and stigmatizes.”

In Texas, ELL students begin to be integrated into regular classrooms in middle school and, according to Liu, using mobile learning using like the iPod touches could help make the transition more successful.

For the study, Liu examined students in a Central Texas school district that is spread over a large geographic area, making it even more of a challenge for students without transportation to avail themselves of after-hours learning resources at the schools.

One of the concerns about students using mobile devices for education purposes is that they instead will be focus on accessing recreational content, but Liu found that students primarily employed the iPod touches for school-related work. They frequently used resources like translators, calculators, maps and media creation tools such as voice recorders, still cameras and video cameras to complete homework assignments.

“The positive outcomes for the students were that they had a home-to-school connection, could engage in language learning away from school, could accomplish more content learning, were able to extend the amount of time they were able to do schoolwork and they had multimodal support,” said Liu.

When surveyed, students and parents had very positive responses to the iPod initiative.

“The parents and students loved the iPods,” said Liu, “and the teachers were enthusiastic about helping the students use any new resource that could help them succeed. For the teachers, though, there were some challenges to overcome. A significant amount of technology training is required as well as training in how to effectively teach the subject matter using the devices.”

Liu discovered that significant training time was needed to instruct teachers in how to integrate the mobile devices smoothly into teaching. In order to be effective in the classroom, the teachers needed assistance in finding the appropriate iPod applications, monitoring students’ use of the devices, solving iPod connectivity issues and dealing with lost devices.

“We’re only beginning to look at how best to use mobile devices with English language learners,” said Liu. “For something like this to succeed, teachers and school districts must be willing and able to make a major time commitment to training. Also, you have to deal with the issue of rapid obsolescence when it comes to technology, and, as we saw in our study, the devices often are lost or broken. All of this equals financial demands on a school district. If a district adopted an initiative like this, we’d want it to be sustainable. That requires further investigation.”

—Kay Randall, University Communications, 512-232-3910